“If you are a first-home buyer and you are really serious about what you want to achieve financially, it’s best to take a really good look and do a personal audit on what your incoming and outgoing costs look like,” Montgomery says.

Montgomery says the younger generation needs to be realistic when looking to buy a first home.

“Gone are the days whereby we can have what our folks have now,” she says.

“A lot of people also choose to buy with friends or family, which helps them to realise that dream sooner.”

Most first-home buyers also qualify for the Government’s $7000 first-home buyer grant, which can be a big help.

Setting up a Federal Government’s first-home saver account could also be an option. Under the scheme, the Government will pay 17 per cent extra for the first $5500 contributed each year. However, the account must remain open for four years to qualify.

ING Direct spokesman David Breen says saving for a first home is “definitely not easy” but his message is simple – start saving now.

“It may sound fairly obvious but the sooner you start and the more regular it is, the sooner you are going to reach that goal,” he says.

“The key to saving is not drawing down on it. You can get into a cycle where you are saving quite aggressively but then you get hit by an unexpected bill and you are back to square one.

“One technique that seems to work quite well is setting up a separate account and having a regular savings amount going into the account.”

Breen suggests setting up an account that’s fee-free and call it “home deposit” so you’re less likely to tap into it.

But he also says while stashing your cash, you should also do your homework when it comes to working out what a mortgage costs.

“There are plenty of websites that can do this, you have got various mortgage calculators on most banking sites.

“Not only will it calculate your repayments but it will also calculate the set-up costs.”

Be sure to factor in stamp duty costs – they vary from state to state too, so check what they are with your state’s revenue office.

Melanie McGhie, 22, spent more than two years saving a deposit and managed to pocket $40,000 to buy her first home.

“I was working ridiculous hours, I was doing 24-hour work and getting a lot of penalties,” she says. “It was a combination of working very hard and how I was raised to think how to spend money.”

McGhie will move into her three-bedroom, two-bathroom home this month.

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